Pointers

Pointers and dynamic objects/ Slide 2

Topics
 Pointers
 Memory addresses
 Declaration
 Dereferencing a pointer
 Pointers to pointer
 Pointers and dynamic objects/ Slide 3

Computer Memory
 Each variable is assigned a memory slot (the
size depends on the data type) and the
variable’s data is stored there

emory address: 1020 1024 1032

… … 100 … 1024 …
a
Variable a’s value, i.e., 100, is
int a = 100; stored at memory location 1024
Pointers and dynamic objects/ Slide 4

Pointers
 A pointer is a variable used to store the
address of a memory cell.
 We can use the pointer to reference this
memory cell

Memory address: 1020 1024 1032

… … 100 … 1024 …
integer pointer
Pointers and dynamic objects/ Slide 5

Pointer Types
 Pointer
 C++ has pointer types for each type of object
Pointers to int objects
Pointers to char objects
Pointers to user-defined objects
(e.g., RationalNumber)
 Even pointers to pointers
Pointers to pointers to int objects
Pointers and dynamic objects/ Slide 6

Pointer Variable

 Declaration of Pointer variables

type* pointer_name;
//or
type *pointer_name;
where type is the type of data pointed to (e.g. int, char, double)

Examples:
int *n;
RationalNumber *r;
int **p; // pointer to pointer
 Pointers and dynamic objects/ Slide 7

Address Operator &

 The "address of " operator (&) gives the memory
address of the variable
 Usage: &variable_name

Memory address: 1020 1024

… … 100 … … …
a
int a = 100;
//get the value,
cout << a; //prints 100
//get the memory address
cout << &a; //prints 1024
Pointers and dynamic objects/ Slide 8

Address Operator &

Memory address: 1020 1024 1032

… 88 100 … … …
a b
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;  Result is:
void main(){ The address of a is: 1020
int a, b; The address of b is: 1024
a = 88;
b = 100;
cout << "The address of a is: " << &a << endl;
cout << "The address of b is: " << &b << endl;
}
Pointers and dynamic objects/ Slide 9

Pointer Variables
Memory address: 1020 1024 1032

… 88 100 … 1024 …
a p
int a = 100;  Result is:
int *p = &a; 100 1024
cout << a << " " << &a <<endl; 1024 1032
cout << p << " " << &p <<endl;
 The value of pointer p is the address of variable a
 A pointer is also a variable, so it has its own memory address
 Pointers and dynamic objects/ Slide 10

Pointer to Pointer

What is the output?

58 58 58
Pointers and dynamic objects/ Slide 11

Dereferencing Operator *
 We can access to the value stored in the variable
pointed to by using the dereferencing operator (*),

Memory address: 1020 1024 1032

… 88 100 … 1024 …
a p
int a = 100;
int *p = &a;
 Result is:
cout << a << endl; 100
cout << &a << endl; 1024
cout << p << " " << *p << endl; 1024 100
cout << &p << endl; 1032
Pointers and dynamic objects/ Slide 12

Don’t get confused

 Declaring a pointer means only that it is a pointer: int
*p;
 Don’t be confused with the dereferencing operator, which
is also written with an asterisk (*). They are simply two
different tasks represented with the same sign
int a = 100, b = 88, c = 8;
int *p1 = &a, *p2, *p3 = &c;
p2 = &b; // p2 points to b
p2 = p1; // p2 points to a
b = *p3; //assign c to b
*p2 = *p3; //assign c to a  Result is:
cout << a << b << c; 888
Pointers and dynamic objects/ Slide 13

A Pointer Example

Memory Layout
The code
Box diagram
void doubleIt(int x, main
int * p)
{ p 8192
a 16 (8200)
*p = 2 * x;
} doubleIt
int main(int argc, const x 9
char * argv[]) (8196)
{
int a = 16;
a 16 main
doubleIt (8192)
doubleIt(9, &a);
return 0;
} x 9

a gets 18 p
Pointers and dynamic objects/ Slide 14

Another Pointer Example

#include <iostream>
 Result is
using namespace std;
int main (){ value1==10 / value2==20
int value1 = 5, value2 = 15;
int *p1, *p2;
p1 = &value1; // p1 = address of value1
p2 = &value2; // p2 = address of value2
*p1 = 10; // value pointed to by p1=10
*p2 = *p1; // value pointed to by p2= value // pointed
to by p1
p1 = p2; // p1 = p2 (pointer value copied)
*p1 = 20; // value pointed to by p1 = 20
cout << "value1==" << value1 << "/ value2==" << value2;
return 0;
}
Pointers and dynamic objects/ Slide 15

Another Pointer Example

int a = 3;
char s = ‘z’;
double d = 1.03;
int *pa = &a;
char *ps = &s;
double *pd = &d;
cout << sizeof(pa) << sizeof(*pa)
<< sizeof(&pa) << endl;
cout << sizeof(ps) << sizeof(*ps)
<< sizeof(&ps) << endl;
cout << sizeof(pd) << sizeof(*pd)
<< sizeof(&pd) << endl;
Pointers and dynamic objects/ Slide 16

Reference Variables
A reference is an additional name to
an existing memory location
Pointer: Reference:

x 9 x
9
ref

ref

int x = 9;
int x=9;
int &ref = x;
int *ref;
ref = &x;
Pointers and dynamic objects/ Slide 17

Reference Variables
 A reference variable serves as an alternative name for
an object

int m = 10;
int &j = m; // j is a reference variable
cout << “value of m = “ << m << endl;
//print 10
j = 18;
cout << “value of m = “ << m << endl;
// print 18
Pointers and dynamic objects/ Slide 18

Reference Variables
 A reference variable always refers to the
same object. Assigning a reference variable
with a new value actually changes the value
of the referred object.
 Reference variables are commonly used for
parameter passing to a function